Chapter 7
Katherine lost control over Clara’s schedule.
Immediately.
No sleepovers unless Clara asked later and I agreed.
No private lessons.
No food discipline.
No ceremonial introductions.
No telling a three-year-old how she would live after my death.
That last one felt absurd to say aloud.
Apparently necessary.
Katherine called me vindictive.
“No.”
I told her.
“I’m making you an aunt again.”
She stared.
As if aunt were an insult.
That revealed the problem.
She had come to believe love without authority was lesser.
I had too, in other ways.
Mafia families do that.
May you like
Everything becomes rank.
Even affection.
